-=[Celes Rada]=-

Celes dreamt of the dreaded black sky-knight, the Deathstorm-weaver, the butcher of her teacher. Once again, the black knight punched through one of the safe-room’s lower-basement compound walls, reached out and pulverised the 18 year-old geisha into an explosion of blood, gore and fire in front of her eyes. Ashes fluttered through the air in the monstrous man’s wake, full-covering, black plate-mail clinking as he walked towards Celes, becoming a faceless nemesis that haunted her dreams. She awoke covered in sweat to the sound of the morning gong.

The kitsune geisha pushed the nightmare away to the back of her mind, rose up like she normally did, centered her Dantian and reinforced the serenity ring in her Anaha. Her twentieth birthday was almost upon her. She knew that she was probably the oldest living geisha in the compound now, and likely the strongest one that... wasn’t a servitor.

Senior high-cultivators wore entire sets of geisha servitor gold bracelets on their hands, stacking the serenity and focus effect - Celes had learned this horrifying truth from the mouth of the High-Administrator himself.

She rewound the past day in her mind as she sang her morning prayers to Lord Boundless. She no longer unquestionably believed in the divinity of the city’s god, but she sang them anyway because the divine-tones made her serenity field stronger. She would no longer bless the high-cultivators with its radiance - all of it now belonged to a strange, young girl Ash Sparks who did impossible things.

It was a bit of a secret, but the serenity field could actually be aimed at one person with enough focus. Normally, Celes’ power was reserved for the High-Administrator, but now all of it would belong to a twin-souled girl who moved the world with the power of her mind.

A plethora of seemingly unconquerable challenges lay ahead of them. Was Han still alive after he fell from the sky? Would Ash manage to unite the city’s Guilds and actually defend the city? When the silver-blue haired girl told Celes of her plan to stand up to the Deathstorm Convergence, the geisha had no hope, and could think of no way that such a thing could be done… but now, things seemed to be possible, although everything they did was hanging on a thin thread that could be snapped at any moment if someone noticed that Ash wasn’t a high-cultivator.

-=[Arianna Manning]=-

Arianna didn’t have a great night. She spent most of it tossing and turning, being irate at herself and Ash. She thought of at least seventeen and a half theoretical and dangerously insane ways to break the Qi pact. She could theoretically protect herself with a reinforcement bracelet or hire a curse modifier expert to relocate the curse from her heart to her pinkie. She could even push the pact onto some patsy for a bit of gold with another pact. She knew how to manipulate people, how to trick idiots and yet she had been the idiot here who was bamboozled into an idiotic pact.

She rose before the morning gong and had tippy-toed across the quiet halls of the Serenity temple to the room occupied by Ash. The tall servitor phantom Ludj-whatever-Murr was standing in front of the door as if it was actively protecting its master! It was impossible - when the Master was asleep, so was the Servitor.

Arianna inhaled. Ludj obeyed Ash, but also wasn’t hers, didn’t smell quite like a normal Servitor. He wasn't a free servitor, Arianna could tell as much, but he also wasn't properly bound. Maybe that was how Ash did it? An improper binding ritual? Then how the hell did it understand and obey her and the geisha?

Having learned nothing else of value, Arianna stomped back to the garden feeling quite irate with the world, herself and mostly Ash Sparks. Geisha Celes sat on one of the stone benches staring at the morning view of the Gold city beneath pink blossoms. The sun was slowly rising above the city, painting the clouds in pink tones in front of the floating shards of the moon overhead.

She heard Arianna's noisy footsteps and turned.

“Geisha!” Arianna demanded. “I want answers!”

“Mind being a bit more specific?” Celes raised an eyebrow.

The scion of Manning gritted her teeth, feeling that there was something wrong with this geisha too. Just like the servitor, she was somehow broken. There was no respect, no obedience in the voice of geisha Rada, even though she clearly knew who Arianna was.

“First of all - you know who I am, geisha. I do not appreciate your disrespectful tone.” The highborn growled.

“I really don’t care who you are,” the retort came back. “I didn’t make any pacts to be your friend.”

“You don’t care?!” Arianna’s had enough. Her lack of sleep made her far angrier than normally and she could no longer keep herself in check. Being reminded of the pact didn’t help matters either. She marched to Celes and tried to slap her.

A medium-sized phantom ferret manifested right in front of Arianna’s hand, keeping the sleeve of her dress in its jaws.

“What in the hells?” Arianna uttered, eyes as wide as dinner plates. She didn’t understand how the geisha summoned her servitor without saying a word. Wordless summoning was unheard of - it was the stuff of legends known only to high-cultivators.

“I’m really getting fed up with your attitude, highborn bitch.” Celes leaned towards Arianna, sharp kitsune teeth glinting menacingly. “You almost killed my friend yesterday. You have done nothing to deserve my respect!”

“My grandfather…” Arianna mewled, trying to free her sleeve from the ferret’s jaws. The damn thing was far stronger than it looked. It smelled like a high-level beast too. What the hells? Who would give geisha a high-level beast?! That kind of power belonged to the high-cultivator by rights of conquest! There was no way that this weakling could...

“Magistrate Manning isn’t here, idiot girl!” Celes snapped. “Are you trying to hit me? Is this how you act towards your friends? Is this how you protect someone?”

A cold, invisible hand closed over Arianna’s heart. Her face became drained off all of its color. Anger became replaced with fear as her heart stopped beating for a few brief, terrifying seconds.

“I, uh, I...” she hyperventilated. The damned contract actually worked, even if it wasn’t made in the name of Lord Boundless! She felt that it would stop her heart, if she kept trying to fight it or Celes. Arianna had tested the effectiveness of the pact and found it quite potent. Damnation!

“You what?” Celes asked.

“I’ll be good,” Arianna stilled. “I’ll be a good fr…”

“I don’t think you will be anything the way you’re going,” Celes asserted tiredly. “The pact will stop your heart, simply because your core is dark and wretched. I don’t think you know how to be someone’s friend. I know your type - you’re the vile product of a rich, noble family. You’re a bad apple that fell from a poisoned tree, a wretch from a long line of reprobates.”

A tide of rage arose within Arianna, because she didn’t like what the geisha was saying, yet she didn’t let even a single peep out of her mouth. She wanted to argue that she wasn’t a wretch, that her place in the world was to command others - such was simply the nature of the world.

However, like a little servitor critter, Arianna Manning was now chained, bound, confined. She deflated, lowering her eyes for the first time in her life because to do otherwise would escalate the situation and stop her heart and that wasn’t a nice feeling at all.

“Maybe there’s some hope for you yet,” the geisha spoke. “However extremely minute it might be.”

Arianna exhaled and sat down, defeated for the fourth time.

“Knipz, get us breakfast,” Celes ordered and the ghostly ferret flashed away like a ball of lightning, moving far quicker than any hunter Arianna’s seen on a geisha.

-=[Ash Sparks]=-

I opened the door, knowing who was behind it far in advance as the blessed radiance of the serenity field embraced me. Did Celes become stronger or was I that desperate for inner peace? The effect definitely felt… more focused. Hrrm.

“Morning Ash,” Celes smiled.

“Sup, Celly?” I yawned, noting that Arianna meekly stood behind Celes. I had never seen Anathema look this meek in front of me! The sight of it surprised me for a few seconds. Did Celes manage to inject some sense into the highborn while I was asleep or something?

Heh. People around me did have agency of their own, they weren’t just cardboard cutouts or dumb npcs.

I followed the pair to the garden, where Celes had already set up a steaming meal on the table. We quietly ate breakfast and I watched as Arianna got increasingly antsy.

“Yes?” I asked her pleading face.

“I want to know the truth… friend.” She somehow punctuated the last word as if she was saying the word “bitch” instead.

“The truth… Well, I did promise to tell you the truth last night,” I disclosed. “Here it goes - thanks to Celes over here, I came in possession of a really potent beast core. I used it on an old skull in the dead city. The knowledge of the ancients now lives in my head.”

"Gods damn it, I freaking knew it!” Arianna declared. She looked at me with irritation. “How many times have I told you! The city is cursed. The bones of ancient men down there belong to Lord Boundless."

"Do they really?” I mused. “Did Boundless-butt somehow label them as ‘my property’?”

“Don't bloody blaspheme! Which part of - 'we do not fuck with the gods' do you not understand?” The highborn growled. “Ninety-nine hells, I should have beaten this into you harder. This is bad. Real bad.”

“Why?” I raised an eyebrow at her. “Do you know what Lord Boundless wants? Did he talk to you himself?”

"No."

"Then who is it that says we must not touch the ancient bones?"

"My grandfather," Arianna exhaled.

"Is your grandfather best friends with lord Boundless perhaps?"

Arianna shook her head.

“Exactly. Beliefs are a system created by people in power, reinforced through repetition and fear of the unknown. Do you know what the power of the ancients really is, Arianna? They weren’t afraid to learn things! They weren’t afraid of reaching out to the sky!”

“...and look where that’s got them!” Arianna tried to defend her point of view. “They’re all dead.”

“Yes, yes,” I rolled my eyes. “People die. Civilizations rise and fall. It happens. Look - do you want to know my power or not?”

“I do,” the ginger confessed. “But that can’t be everything… trying new things… I mean how absurd is that…”

“It’s not everything. However, trying new things does work sometimes,” I said, suddenly arriving at a brilliantly-deranged idea. “Tell me this, Arianna Manning. Have you ever tried talking to an archangel?”

"To talk to the Voice of god is an act of disrespect!” Arianna huffed. “Those above you must speak first!"

"Has anyone in this city ever talked to an archangel?" I asked.

"I've heard stories... Of low cultivators who were fools. They went to insult an archangel and were..." Celes interjected.

"Yes, yes. They were dragged down into the hells." I rolled my eyes. "I know the story too. I think it's just a moral tale about being rude to your elders or something."

“A moral tale…?” Celes blinked.

"A memetic story that self-propagated, ingrained itself into the local culture. Honestly - have any of you actually seen an archangel rip out a soul?" I asked Celes and Arianna.

Both girls shook their heads.

"How are you so sure or what's going to happen then? Here's my real power - I simply try to do things nobody else has tried before in a thousand years."

The noble redhead squinted at me.

"Gold city society is mired in social rules, classes and hierarchies. Cultivators do not acknowledge regular people as equals. Fear of the divine judgement is ever present because nobody can deny the fact that Lord Boundless and the archangels exist," I explained. "Do you want to learn my power? Do you want to push boundaries, change the world? Break a social norm. Talk to an archangel, Arianna."

"What?! Was that your freaking plan all along? Get an archangel to strike me down?! I can't just go and talk to the Voice!!!" Arianna yelped.

“Why not?” I asked.

"What the hells do you mean why not?! Because I like to have my soul in my body!!!"

Arianna turned to the only other person present in the garden, seeking moral support from the only available source. "Geisha! You know the rules as well as I do! She can't be serious! You can't just..."

Celes tilted her head in my direction, gracing me with an understanding smile. "It has been a short time since I've been around her, but I've seen miracles occur in one day that would've taken centuries to account for. What's stopping you from taking a chance, Arianna?"

"Screw both of you! If you want to talk so badly to an archangel, go ahead! I'm staying as far away as possible from such dangerous blasphemy!" Arianna huffed. "What kind of an imbecile would actually attempt to..." Her immutable facade showed the tiniest crack, as her mind processed the idea.

"Surely someone tried to talk to an archangel before," Celes commented. "Drunkards, clueless children, desperate people praying to god for a miracle."

"Indeed. The stories talk about these rude-ass, foolish cultivators. They mention nothing of the mundane, or the desperate." I added. “The ancients solved problems by attacking them from unexpected angles. Sometimes, even a direct approach to a problem with a specialized tool can render it moot.”

“Different angles… and a tool?”

“Let me give you an example. I’ve been solving problems ‘Gordian knot’ style all day yesterday.

“Long ago, a conqueror named Alexander the Great marched his army into an enemy's capital. Upon arriving in the city, he encountered an ancient wagon, its yoke tied with several knots so tightly entangled that it was impossible to see how they were fastened,” I narrated. “An oracle had declared that any man who could unravel these elaborate knots was destined to become ruler of all of the land. Alexander simply stepped back from the mass of gnarled ropes and proclaimed, 'It makes no difference how they are loosed!' He then drew his sword and sliced the knot in half.”

"Hrm," Ariana pursed her lips as she mulled over the archangel problem. "A direct approach to a problem… I could give a copper penny to a small child and ask them to talk to an archangel?"

"Okay. Now you are indeed finally thinking in the right direction, but your morals are extremely dubious," I noted with a sigh.